Cars, Law and Politics from Boston.

I've posted about paid police details, and about the police unions many times over the past several years. Finally, some good news on the topic. Kudos to Governor Patrick for accomplishing what Mitt Romney couldn't. Unlike Romney, Patrick promised AND delivered.

An end to idling state police cruisers and pacing local cops on state highway jobs is long overdue. If only the 350 cities and towns could find the same political will. We can break the back of the police unions here, if people don't chicken out. And what's with Arlington Police Chief Ryan and his snit, quoted in the Boston Globe:

"In my 25 years in law enforcement in this state, I have never worked
with a more insensitive and arrogant administration that is simply
unwilling to listen on this issue[.]"

He must be facing a contract renegotiation with his department's organized crime unit union. Or at least some of his fellow city chiefs are.

These new anti-detail regulations are a victory for the taxpayer, for common sense, and for law enforcement. We need police who give their attention to their jobs, not to holes in the ground.

As foretold here, Lewis Hamilton won the 2007 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That was a good prediction on my part and, as I also said last week, "Having seen him race, I say he's the next world champion. I doubt anyone can catch him."

I stand by that. Hamilton is Formula One's next World Champion. Simply awesome.

151-45. That seems a little weak, but I'll take it. Those 45 state reps were in favor of letting the people vote on someone's civil rights. Civil rights should not be put to a popular vote. Still, the right side won, so I guess I'm quibbling.

I hate this state sometimes. I hate the taxes. I hate the Mass Pike. I hate the corruption.

But I love the fact that we told the "family values" people, and especially Ronald Crews, to go fuck themselves.

UPDATE: if you want to see bigotry revealed, read Howie Carr's Heraldcolumn today. What a complete asshole he is; I never quite realized. (BTW, Howie, that was democracy in action - representative democracy.)

A police officer was shot last night in Boston; he is expected to make a full recovery, but that's pure good luck. If the Herald's account is accurate, the suspect was then shot twice by a trooper, but got right up and laughed about what he had done.

The Boston Globe today carries a story about two homes for sale in the heart of Boston's Back Bay, at 128 and 130 Commonwealth Avenue. Vaguely interesting, I guess, but it jumped out at me for one reason:

I don't really care about WRKO's decision not to employ Bernard McGuirk as a fill-in or co-host for Tom Finneran. McGuirk is lousy as a host, I don't listen to WRKO, and we've already seen that Al Sharpton can control the airwaves when he wants. So there's no there in that story. But I laughed at something ancillary in the Boston Globereport of the decision:

Dan Kennedy, who teaches journalism at Northeastern University and
blogs on the local media scene, applauded the station for reversing
course.

"To actually bring McGuirk into Boston, and to pair him
with a guy who -- although he's not doing that well on the ratings
certainly, has some class and some dignity -- was an awful decision,
and I'm glad they're not going to do it," he said.

We took in Shrek the Third over the weekend, along with everyone else in rainy New England. We went early, for the morning matinee. It was expensive anyway. Then we got to sit through advertising for junk no one should feed their kids. After that, we got to sit through previews for other films they want us to pay too much to see, most of which appear not to be worth even a reasonable admission price. [Prediction: Seinfeld's bee movie will turn out to be a C movie.]

And what's with showing a preview for a movie with machine guns, missiles, and invading robots before a kids' film? And who thinks it's a good idea to show a preview with Queen Latifah making racial jokes to an audience of five-year-olds?

And why to do media outlets lead with the weekend take as if it were a sporting contest? When did the box office take become of concern to anyone outside the industry? Oh, and could we stop the stupid headlines on that topic ("Big Green Ogre Stomps Spidey")?

Falwell's dead. I can't think of anything to say except: good riddance. With each passing year I become more angry at those who would abrogate the civil rights and human dignity of an entire class of people. So, screw Falwell. The world is better off without him. There; I did think of something to say.

Boston ranked third in road rage. Third? We let New York beat us again? Get with it, people! All it takes is a single finger and a little random horn-blowing. Maybe all our psychotherapists are dispensing too many meds. Anyone care to do a correlation survey?